A Glasshouse Butterfly
by littlerobotbird
Summary: Fluttershy has never been the most confident, forward pony, so when she finds herself introduced to some deep-seated feelings for one of her closest friends, she's understandably unwilling to commit to the idea for fear of losing a friend. Of course, Fluttershy has certain other friends that certainly won't let this stand. Sometimes all a pony needs is a bit of gentle nudging.


**A****Glasshouse****Butterfly**

**~1~**

"I just don't know..." Fluttershy replied after she had taken a good, long moment to ponder the question, staring at her reflection on the back the spoon; it bulged comically at the sides, her tightly pursed lips becoming a wide frown. Slowly, she slipped the spoon back into the pot, giving the ingredients a few therapeutic stirs before she spoke more. "It's just that she's so..."

"Determined?" a voice offered from her bedroom, drawing Fluttershy's attention to the stairs. "Daring? Daunting even?"

"Well . . . yes."

The voice paused a moment before continuing. "Here we go! Is she ennn-nergentic?"

"Yes."

"Eggs-xuberant!"

"Yes."

"Especially kinetically energetic?!"

Fluttershy giggled before replying. "Very."

"So what's the problem?" the voice asked, the familiar, snorting laugh that followed sending a nervous shudder down the pegasus's spine.

_Well__, __there__'__s __the __fact __that __I__'__m __most __certainly__, 100% __not__..._ she thought quietly, setting the pot to a low boil before sliding the lid back on. "Oh, I just don't even know where to begin with all of this. I'm just too nervous."

"Well . . . we'll just have to fix that now, won't we?" the voice stated cheerfully before switching to a more thoughtful tone. "Now, how exactly do we go about doing that?"

Fluttershy cocked an eyebrow as a nearly imperceptible smile crossed her features, a rather loud hum emanating from upstairs.

"Oh! Oh! I know! I know!" the voice suddenly cried out, followed by a mad scramble of hoof on wood, interrupted only by a loud thump before the scrabbling resumed.

"Oh, be careful around the—"

Fluttershy's warning would go unheeded, however, as the chaos of overly excited hooves reached the top of the stairs only to be followed by the cacophonous mix of yelps and thumps of a pony tumbling down the steps before slamming right into the cupboard below.

It teetered dangerously a moment, a large bag of flour falling to floor in a cloud of white.

"Ooo . . . owwies..." came the moan as Fluttershy rushed through the soft white fog, the flour slowly settling to reveal a white- and pink-speckled earth pony. With a rather heavy thunk, the bag of flour slid off her onto the wood floor sending another, smaller plume into the air.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, her voice growing in pitch alongside, her already-frayed nerves lending a panicked twitch to her cheek.

Carefully, Fluttershy brushed the earth pony off, checking for any permanent damage before grasping her head, a pair of sky-blue eyes swirling crazily about in their sockets.

"Oh, boy . . . that first step sure is one heck of a dooOOooOoozy..." the earth pony murmured in a daze before shaking herself free of the rest of the flour.

"You really—" Fluttershy coughed as the flour settled around her. "Really need to take it easy," Fluttershy implored as she took great care in inspecting the earth pony's heavily bandaged forehoof. "Especially around stairs."

"You aren't kidding!" she replied excitedly, bouncing up to her hooves before nearly collapsing again as her weight came down on the injured hoof. "Ooo . . . more owwies. I don't much like owwies," she pouted. "They hurt."

"Aww..." Fluttershy cooed gently as the pink pony plopped back onto her hindquarters, her face the very definition of melancholy. Even her curly mane seemed to droop. "Do you want Momma Fluttershy to make it all better?"

"Mmmhmmm..." she responded, lower lip out-thrust and trembling.

Fluttershy bent down and kissed the earth pony's foreleg before glancing up into the trembling sky blue orbs.

"Better?" she asked, running a hoof gently up and down the bandage.

"Unh hunh..." the pink pony replied in a soft voice, fighting back a smile as Fluttershy tenderly kissed her hoof again. "A little bit better..."

"And what have we learned?" Fluttershy asked with a smile.

"To be more careful around stairs?"

Fluttershy nodded, giving the curly mane a playful tousle, a shower of excess flour cascading down, before helping the pink pony up onto her three good hooves.

"Thanks, Fluttershy!" the pink pony squealed, grabbing the flustered pegasus in an awkward, one-hoofed embrace with her unbandaged hoof. "You're always the bestest to me!"

"Y-you're welcome," Fluttershy gasped out, that one good hoof still enough to squeeze out all the air from her lungs. "Ne-nee-"

"Oh!" the pink pony gasped, dropping the pegasus rather unceremoniously. "I almost forgot my idea!"

"Yeah?" Fluttershy croaked from her place sprawled on the floor, chest heaving.

"You wanna hear it? Huh, huh?!" she asked, bouncing around on all threes, circling the downed pony inexhaustibly.

"Sure?" Fluttershy murmured uncertainly. She pulled herself into a sitting position as she finally caught her breath.

"You should practice..." she immediately halted, beaming at Fluttershy, toothy grinned and wide eyed, "on me!"

Fluttershy didn't reply as the blood rushed to her face immediately.

"It's a great idea, hunh?!" the pink pony asked eagerly. "I mean, it is the best idea! It's a . . . one second." She dashed to the fallen flour sack, grabbing a flour dusted book from its depths before skidding over to the table. "It is a superbly, superlative, supreme..." She paused a moment to stare at the page. "Oh, brambledings . . . I lost my place. Now I'm gonna have to start all over again." She sat down with a harrumph, glaring at the offending book.

"Um..." Fluttershy began nervously, drawing the pouting pony's attention. "I just don't know . . . it might be a little..." Fluttershy paused a moment to scratch at an imaginary stain on the floor. "Weird..."

"I do hereby solemnly swear that it will not, can not, and shall not be weird in any which way," she replied, sitting up straight with a look of determination written across her features as she crossed her bandaged hoof over her heart, finishing with a stone-faced nod of her head and a hard salute that sent her tumbling onto her back.

"I-"

Before Fluttershy could even begin her protest, she was confronted by the full, unbridled focus of the most dreaded of puppy-dog stares, the eyes watering to great effect as the quivering lip seemed to double in size.

"Pretty, pretty please?"

"I..." Fluttershy sighed, defeated. "Fine..."

"Woohoo!" the pink pony whooped, pulling Fluttershy to her hooves before staring at her, the water in her eyes replaced by determination and unbridled excitement.

Then, they simply stood there for a moment. The pink pony stared silently, Fluttershy's blush deepening by the second beneath the onslaught of those light blues..

"Well?"

"'Well' what?" Fluttershy replied instinctually, startled by the sudden break in the silence.

"Well, aren't you going to say 'Hi, Pinkie', you silly filly!" she replied with a gentle, knowing smile.

"Oh . . . um, of course..." Fluttershy cleared her throat, suddenly unable to look the other pony in the eye as she began. "H-hi, Pinkie."

"Heya, Flutters!"

"I-I'm r-really glad you, um, decided to come and, uh, came?" Slowly the pegasus seemed to fold in on herself. Unconsciously, she sat, letting her long pink mane flow in front of her as cover.

"Fluttershy?"

"Yes?"

"You should really make better eye contact."

Fluttershy allowed her bangs to part just enough so that a single, confused turquoise eye could be seen..

"Remember: 'Don't be shy, look 'em in the eye,'" the pink pony recited, voice going deep and husky.

"Where did you hear that?" Fluttershy asked, poking her head through her bangs to stare at the other pony.

"I read it in that book you had underneath your dresser's leg," she explained. "It had lots of neat sayings. And most of them rhymed too! I love things that rhyme!" she exclaimed before suddenly staring at Fluttershy intensely. "By the way, your dresser is really, really crooked." She brightened back up. "It had so many cool, rhyme-y sayings! I can't wait to try them!"

"Oh . . . well, you probably shouldn't take that book too seriously . . . it could lead to some, um," Fluttershy fell quiet for a moment, "bad behavior."

"Oh. Soooo . . . I shouldn't look other ponies in the eye?"

"Oh, no! I mean, _that_'s good advice, but some of the other parts are . . . not so good advice."

"Ah . . ." She pondered this little tidbit a moment before brightening back up. "Oh, but we're running out of time! Where were we?"

"Um . . .Hellos?"

"Oh, right!" She bounded over to the table. Grabbing a pad and pencil, she spent the next minute scribbling furiously before glancing back over at Fluttershy, finishing with a flourish of the pencil. "Greetings, check!" She paused a moment. "Well," she erased a bit, "mostly check. A three-quarter check." And then erased a bit more. "Two-thirds of a check?"

Fluttershy's face fell in increments until it was resting atop her hooves. "This really _was_ a bad idea." She blew a bit of mane out of her eyes before burying her face into the woodgrain, quietly hoping to disappear into a fissure. "A terrible, awful, horrendous idea."

There was silence as Fluttershy stewed in nervous self-pity on the floor. She gave a start as a hoof came to rest on her shoulders.

"Aww . . . c'mon. It is _not_ a bad idea. In fact, it's a wonderful, spectacular, super especially awesome idea!"

"Oh . . . I'm just too nervous," Fluttershy murmured, glancing up at the beaming pink pony before standing up, a panicked in her eye. "I'm calling this off. I'll-I'll say I have the feather flu and have to be in bed," she rambled on, staring at the floor as began to trot. "Have to get lots and lots of rest. I can't do this. I just ca-"

She was interrupted mid-stride on her way to the door by a flash of pink, the world swirling about until she found herself pinned to the floor by a rather aggravated-looking earth pony.

"Fluttershy, you _are_ doing this!"

"Bu-"

"No ifs, ands nor buts of any sort!" she declared. "This _is_ something that will make you happier and I _will_ not, _can_ not let you ruin it for yourself!"

"It's just . . . I've known her for so long . . . I couldn't bear to lose her as a friend."

"You wouldn't be losing her as a friend, silly! You..." The pink mare paused, tapping a hoof to her chin. "You'd just be making her a super special sort of bestest friend."

"But what if she doesn't want to be my, um . . . super special bestest friend?"

"You should know better than that," came the reply, a pink hoof patting her mane as the familiar grin set the butterflies in her stomach at ease. "Is she _really_ the kind of friend that would just abandon a pony over something like this?"

"No . . . she's always been a good, loyal friend. But . . . Oh, I just don't know how she'll react if this goes badly." Fluttershy mewled as the pink pony helping her back to her hooves. "It's scary."

"It's okay that it's scary, but that doesn't mean you should just give up!" the pink pony cried out, drawing the pouting pegasus into a tight hug. "Remember, you're an _awesomely_ fantastically _amazing_ friend and she _totally_ knows that. _Nopony_ would want to lose you as a friend." Her grip relaxed to allow them to look eye-to-eye. "Got that?"

"I think so . . . maybe?"

The pink mare grinned. "You can do bet-"

They were interrupted by a playful tap-tap-tapping of a hoof on the cottage's front door.

"Whoopsies! Outta time!" Fluttershy was immediately released, the pink pony dashing towards the stairs only to skid into the kitchen with a loud clang of tumbling cookware.

"Are you oh-"

"No time!" came her reply from the kitchen before she dashed back into the living room to grab the pegasus by the shoulders. "And remember, " she grabbed the pegasus's cheeks, yanking them in a smile, "confidence!"

"Okay," Fluttershy nodded, voice hardly more than a whisper.

"Okie dokie! Now, go, go!"

Without warning, Fluttershy was sent hurtling towards the door, bouncing across the cottage floor before coming to a rest in front of the door.

"Go on!" came the loudly whispered encouragement as Fluttershy's vision was filled completely and utterly by the seemingly massive door before her.

_Oh__my__..._

The rapping of hoof on the door seemed to come in slow, thunderous poundings now, matching, blow-for-blow, the steady nervous thumps of her heart in her throat. She stared at it as if it were about to fall, crushing her like so many ill-conceived hopes and dreams.

_Thump__..._

"Psst! Fluttershy?"

_Thump__.._

"Hey, Fluttershy?

_Thum__-_

"FLUTTERSHY!"

She up shot to her hooves, the voice shocking time back into its normal cadence, the tap-tap-taps on the door now forming a familiar melody.

_It__'__s__just__your__friend__... __you__'__ve__known__her__forever__... __nothing__to__be__afraid__of__... __except__everything__that__could__go__wrong__of__course__... __yes__, __just__that__._

With a nervous gulp, Fluttershy brought a trembling hoof to the door knob and began to twist it... ever so slowly inching it along its circular journey...

"OPEN IT!"

With a not-so-quiet meep, Fluttershy's hoof jammed the knob all the way and the door exploded inwards in a shower of confetti and streamers.

"SURPRISE!"

There was the familiar ear-splitting cry as Pinkie slid into the cottage in a proper showmare's pose, pink top hat tilted forwards over her eyes as the bits of color fell down all around her.

There was a moment of silence as the bits of paper settled to the floor.

"Fluttershy?" Pinkie, maintaining her pose, tipped the hat back to find Fluttershy staring up at her from the flat of her back, eyes wide and body trembling. "Oh . . . um, too much?"

"Y-yeh-yeh-_*__hic__*_ Yes," Fluttershy stuttered out as Pinkie popped up onto her hooves with a bounce.

"Sorry . . . been working out my entrances for surprise parties and you've always been honest with me and I figured you'd be honest now and you were!"

"Um . . . you're_ *__hic__* _welcome," Fluttershy offered as she lifted herself from the floor, a hoof rubbing at her throat as she willed the hiccups away.

"Was it the confetti? The streamers? Oh! Oh! I know! It was the volume, right? It's always the volume." Pinkie rambled quietly to herself a moment. "Or maybe I should try sparklers instead. What do you think, Fluttershy?"

"Sparklers?" Fluttershy muttered, voice containing a note of rising panic.

"Yeah, like this!"

Pinkie disappeared for a moment, Fluttershy rising and moving to follow before her friend burst back into the cottage, now wearing a vest covered in reflective sequins and glittering top hat complete with sparklers sticking up from it.

"Surprise!" Pinkie shouted, albeit at a lower and less eardrum imploding volume.

Silence in response.

Pinkie tipped the hat back again and glanced down. "And you're on your back again."

Fluttershy looked up from the floor, legs poking up into the air, frozen in shock.

"Eh, I'll work on it later. But for now," In one fluid motion of her hoof, Pinkie slipped out of her ensemble and tossed the outfit out the door. "Let's get you back to the party."

Working quickly and with a gentleness few would expect of the self-proclaimed pink party pony of Ponyville, Pinkie worked the pegasus's legs from their state of shock-induced rigor mortis and got her back on her hooves.

"There! All better," Pinkie said with a smile that Fluttershy returned wholeheartedly.

"Th-thanks, Pinkie."

_Oh__, __the__plan__!_

"Um . . . hiya, Pinkie!" Fluttershy said with what she hoped was a happy, confident voice, giving an exaggerated wave of her hoof.

"Heya, Flutters!" Pinkie replied with giggling snort. "Though it might be a little late for hellos. You should really work on your timing." She gasped as a light came over her. "Oh, Pumpkin and Pound could help! They're super good with timing! Although . . . they're not very good with puns." Pinkie sidled up to Fluttershy, sending a blush across the pegasus's face as the party pony's voice dropped to a secretive whisper. "Just between us, I think they got that from Mr. Cake. That pony just has no appreciation for punnery."

Fluttershy giggled, if only to cover up the nervous tremble in her throat.

"So, what's up, Shy-Shy?" Pinkie chirped as she slipped away from Fluttershy, the pegasus nearly tipping over due to the sudden absence.

"Oh! Um . . . nothing really . . . except you. You're here and that's, um . . . that's nice."

"Super duper nice, I hope?" Pinkie inquired, giving the pegasus a familial pat on the mane, smiling wide.

"Oh, um, of course," Fluttershy replied, straightening her mane as Pinkie went bouncing into the living room proper.

"And how are you, my most pinkest of friends?" she heard Pinkie ask with a giggling snort.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide, the pegasus slamming the door closed and whirling around to find Pinkie and a flamingo staring at her.

"You alright, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked, frozen mid hoof-to-webbed-foot bump with the flamingo which stared at Fluttershy, neck craned at a perturbingly perfect right angle.

"Oh! Yes! Completely fine!" Fluttershy squeaked, sliding back against the door with a relieved breath.

"So how 's our phoenicopteridae friend doin'?" Pinkie asked, completing her customary greeting with the lanky wading bird, taking care to avoid contacting its bandaged wing.

"Um, Phoenico-what?" Fluttershy asked nervously, her heart rate jumping once more.

"Flamingo!" Pinkie said with an excited bounce. "I was at Twilight's earlier and I saw a book on birds and thought to myself, 'I could totally study and help out my friend Fluttershy with our bestest flamingo friend Flammy because that's what friends should do!'" Pinkie explained gleefully, having taken to doing a strangely choreographed dance with the flamingo, bouncing between her hind hooves whilst swinging her forehooves rhythmically, Flammy mirroring her actions with flipper and wing.

"I suppose they do..." Fluttershy trailed off as she became entranced by the dance.

_I__'__m __forgetting __something__..._ the idle thought appeared, her brow furrowing as she watched the dance.

A certain, out-of-place odor tickled her nose as she watched before she heard the clattering of metal from the kitchen.

"Oh, my goodness! Our dinner!"

With a hard flap of her wings, she bolted over the pair of prancing fools into the kitchen, nearly smashing into the oven as she landed hard on her hooves.

_D__on__'__t __be __burnt.__ Oh, please __please __don__'__t __be __burnt__..._

She thought she might cry as she switched off the fire and shoved aside the clattering lid, a plume of smoke wafting up from blackened sludge inside.

_Oh__, __ponyfeathers__..._ she swore quietly, her eyes tearing up. _It__'__s __all __ruined__ . . . __everything __is __just... __ruined__..._

She felt the tears begin to run down her cheeks, a quartet of hesitant hoofsteps moving around behind her.

"It's alright, Fluttershy," the voice said as a pink hoof gently massaged her shoulder.

Fluttershy sniffled as she glanced up at Pinkie's smiling visage, Flammy lurking just behind.

"The important thing is that we're here and having a fun time, right?" Pinkie stated, flicking away a tear as the flamingo bobbed its head rapidly in agreement.

"Th-that's right," Fluttershy replied with a blushing smile.

"We can always order something in."

"Yeah . . . that sounds nice," Fluttershy replied, the tears subsiding.

"Well..." Pinkie began, a sinister-looking grin flowing over her face. "Who's up for some hay shakes?" Pinkie asked with a wide grin before dashing outside. "Bet I can hit Señor Grains from here!" Pinkie shouted from outside before Fluttershy lept to her hooves at the sound of cannon fire.

~o~0~o~

"Okay, so it took twenty shots . . . I _still_ hit them," Pinkie stated smugly before taking a enormous bite out of her third hay-steak burger.

"I think they'll be cleaning up all day tomorrow," Fluttershy mused, glancing over at the outskirts of Ponyville.

Even at a distance, one could see the masses of streamers and confetti strewn across the rooftops and streets, some still twirling about in the evening breeze.

"Still . . . it _was_ impressive, right?" Pinkie asked with a grin. "Right in the trot-thru window!"

Fluttershy pondered it a moment before cracking a grin. "Yes."

"Hah!" The table shuddered as Pinkie's hoof, pointed squarely at Fluttershy, slammed down on it. "I _knew_ you had a little mischevity streak in ya, Flutters," Pinkie stated with a jovial grin, giving the blushing pegasus a soft jab in the shoulder.

"Maybe..." Fluttershy smiled. "Just a little, tiny one."

"Hey, you roll with the Pink and we'll have you up to a foot-wide streak in no time flat."

"Foot-wide?"

"Baby steps, Fluttershy. Baby steps," Pinkie replied before digging into her food wholeheartedly, coming up for air a minute later with a ketchup- and mayo-streaked face, her cheeks packed full of fries.

"You've, um . . . got a little . . . on your face."

"Mwhere w'at?" Pinkie's eyes crossed as she tried to see her own face. "On mwy theek?"

"Uh..." Fluttershy motioned with a hoof to her right cheek, then her left and her forehead and then, with a disbelieving shake of her head, simply motioned to everywhere.

With a nod, Pinkie flipped her tongue out of her mouth, stretching it, in ways Fluttershy wouldn't have thought physically possible, to slurp up the dripping mess of condiments in one clean swipe.

"Gowt it?" she inquired as she shifted her lump of food from one bulging cheek to another.

"Um . . . yes," Fluttershy replied, eyes wide and her face flushed a bright red as she was unable to do anything but stare as Pinkie quickly finished her meal.

_Um__ . . . __quite __impressive__ . . . __yes__ . . ._ she thought as she squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. _I __kinda __wonder __what __else __she __could__-_

The avian equivalent of a chortle from Flammy cut off her thoughts, Fluttershy shooting the pink bird a look of disapproval as it sat a few feet, head craned over half-full bowl of fish. The bird simply cocked its head, launching into a series of honks in reply.

_Now__? __Right __now__? __As __in__ '__right __now__' __right __now__? _Fluttershy's mind panicked as she glanced from Flammy to Pinkie, the pink-flanked pony finally swallowing her dinner. _As __good __a __time __as __ever__..._

"Um . . . Pinkie?"

"Yeah, Fluttershy?"

"I, um . . . I did kind of have a reason I asked you to come here tonight..." she began, rising from the table. "Something I wanted to tell you..." For a moment, she just stood there, unable to look up into those familiar soft blues.

"Well, I'm here. Ask away," Pinkie said with a cordial motion of her hoof, her smile always present.

"I . . . I . . . um . . ."

She glanced over at the flamingo, the bird giving her a scratchy squawk of encouragement.

_I __can __do __this__ . . . __it__'__s __just __Pinkie __Pie__ . . . __it__'__s __just__... _She broke out in a nervous sweat as she stared at her friend . . . eye-to-eye.

All the words she had spent so long thinking of, all the words she had stayed up thinking of in an endless cycle of revision, seemed to flow together into a mish-mash pile of nonsensical gibberish that wedged itself deep in her throat.

_I__ . . . __I__ . . ._

"Um . . . Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked worriedly as the pegasus trembled before her.

_I __can__'__t __do __this__ . . . __I __can__'__t__, __I __can__'__t__, __I __can__'__t__, __I __can__'__t__, __I __can__'__t__, __I __ca__—_

She gave a panicked squeak as a beak nipped at her flank, shocking her from her frozen state, finding Pinkie now standing atop the table, an overflowing bucket of water in her hooves, ready to soak the pegasus.

"Good thinkin', Flammy! Now we don't have to clean up!" Pinkie chirped excitedly, sliding the bucket down on the table before giving the flamingo a quick pat on the head to which it replied with a satisfied squawk. "Feeling okay?"

"Um . . . no. Not really," Fluttershy replied honestly, frustration bleeding into her otherwise carefully chosen tone. She took a quick drink from the bucket, silently contemplating jamming her head into the water and having a nice private scream of frustration.

"Is this about earlier?"

Fluttershy didn't answer, too busy stewing in her own self-disgust.

"I can try to do an order differently next time if that's what's bugging you..." Pinkie stated sadly, leaning down to try and catch a glimpse of the pegasus's face behind the long, pink mane.

"That's not it..."

"What's up then?" Pinkie asked, cautiously brushing the long pink mane away. "You know you can always tell your auntie Pinkie Pie what's got you down"

Fluttershy laughed softly at the idea . . . friendly . . . familial.

"I know . . . it's just..." Fluttershy glanced up, but immediately felt her throat constrict. "It's nothing . . . I'm fine." She ignored the worried nibbled of the beak on the back of her mane as she swallowed her words.

"How 'bout I make us some tea?" Pinkie asked. "Chamomile with a sprig of mint is still your favorite, right?"

Fluttershy simply nodded.

Pinkie disappeared into the kitchen with a worried backwards glance before the pegasus slumped down to the floor, Flammy kneeling beside her as the flamingo quietly preened her ruffled feathers.

_I__can__'__t__..._

~o~0~o~

"I just really, _really_ hate to leave while you're still so down in the dumpies."

"It's okay . . . I know you have other things to worry about than me."

Pinkie made as if to say something but snapped her jaw shut and simply stood, just outside the cottage door, for a moment. "Are you sure you're feeling better?"

"A hundred percent better," Fluttershy lied, masking the grimace she felt forming on her face, the tea curling up into a lump in her stomach, the careful words long since dissolved.

Pinkie simply stared at the pegasus, eyes narrowing before suddenly lighting up.

"Oh! I know!" She bounded past the pegasus, spinning Fluttershy about on her way to the table. "You can prove it to me tomorrow!"

Fluttershy stared in horror as Pinkie grabbed a pencil in her maw and began to scratch at a notepad that had been carelessly tossed atop the couch. After a few seconds of scribbling, Pinkie tore off the top of the pad and bounced back to Fluttershy.

"Fewr yew!" she exclaimed, the scrap of paper held in her teeth as she presented it to the pegasus.

"_One __Free __You__-__Should__-__Visit __Muffin __For __One __Super __Spectacularly __Awesome __Friend__," _Fluttershy read aloud, glancing up at Pinkie before continuing._ "__Void __Where __Prohibited__. __No __Monetary __Value__?"_

Pinkie spat out the coupon into her hoof. "Standard legal release," she explained before slipping it back into her mouth.

"_If __Lost__, __Please __Return __To __Fluttershy__, __k__? __Thanks__, __bye__! __Good __Tomorrow __Only __So __You __Totally __Have __To __Come __Tomorrow __Or __Miss __Out __On __A __Totally __Awesome __Muffin__."_

"Amnd they mwill be aweshome!" Pinkie shouted ecstatically around the coupon, drawing a smile out of the morose pegasus.

In the corner, there was a hastily sketched drawing of a poofy-maned, grinning face beside a long-maned one with a similarly big grin.

"Th-thank you, Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy stuttered, letting Pinkie release the coupon into the her hoof. "It's very thoughtful of you."

"Be sure to come by," Pinkie implored before hooking her hooves around Fluttershy, drawing her into a quick hug before bounding away towards the confetti strewn streets of outer Ponyville. "Sleep tight, Fluttershy! Don't let the bed buggies bite!" she called back before disappearing down the road.

"Bye..." Fluttershy replied quietly, sitting down in the doorway as the cool night breeze coursed through her mane. Behind her came a soft, mournful squawk, followed by the sound of webbed feet slapping against wood.

_I __couldn__'__t __do __it__... __I __just __couldn__'__t__..._

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of green light up the doorframe...

_It__'__s __just __too __hard__..._

…the slaps of webbed feet replaced by the gentle clops of careful hooves drawing nearer and nearer as she stared out at Ponyville...

_And __it__'__ll __always __be __hard__..._

She didn't even flinch as the hoof ran through her mane.

"It's okay, Fluttershy..." that familiar voice cooed as she turned to face it.

"I..." Fluttershy croaked out before abandoning words altogether and burying her face in the cloud of pink.

All was quiet as she sobbed into the familiar mane... it even smelled the same: a mix of cotton candy and sugar cookies.

"It's okay . . . we just have to practice a bit more," it said uncertainly, running a hoof down her back as they embraced awkwardly. "We'll just practice a bit more and then everything will be perfect and you'll be so happy. It'll be great. You'll see..."

_Maybe__ . . . __maybe __just __a __bit __more __practice__..._


End file.
